£3m squandered on empty Bibby Stockholm could pay for 70,000 GP appointments

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Only 39 asylum seekers were moved onto the barge before it had to be evacuated four days later after Legionella bacteria were detected in the barge. water - it is now empty in Portland

The government has repeatedly claimed that the Bibby Stockholm is a cheaper way to house asylum seekers than to keep them in hotels (

Image: Getty Images)

The Tories wasted more than £3m on the failed Bibby Stockholm barge - enough to pay for 70,000 GP appointments, research reveals. The ship, which is moored on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, was expected to accommodate up to 500 asylum seekers.

Only 39 people were moved before it had to be evacuated four days later after Legionella bacteria were detected in the water. The barge Bibby Stockholm arrived in Portland on July 17, but since then has lain empty and unusable except for those four days.

It was reported earlier this week that the migrants who had been moved had been told they would not be brought back on the barge for weeks. The government has repeatedly claimed that the Bibby Stockholm is a cheaper way to house asylum seekers than to keep them in hotels. The Home Office has not released official costs for the barge, but it is believed to cost around £20,000 a day for food, healthcare and security.

Labour calculated the daily cost of mooring the barge in Portland and added it to the £2.5million the Home Office pays to the Port of Portland, plus agreed costs to Dorset Council. The party also added additional costs of around £3,500 for each occupied bed which it said would have been incurred on the days the asylum seekers were briefly on board the Bibby Stockholm, as well as the costs of their relocation and medical tests following the discovery of legionella. bacteria last week

A recent study estimated that an average nine-minute face-to-face consultation with a GP cost £42 in 2021/22, the King's Fund reported. More than a million patients a month are forced to wait four weeks to see their GP, according to NHS data.

Shadow Immigration Minister Stephen Kinnock said: 'This is the damaging cost of Tory chaos in the asylum system. Millions of pounds of taxpayers' money spent on unworkable projects and non-deliverables that lead to endless delays and even more malfunctions.This empty barge, which has already raised a number of serious health and safety issues, is further proof of the incompetence and chaos of the curators, and that cost the British people astronomically."

He added: "Only Labor has a serious plan to stop Channel crossings by cracking down on smuggling gangs and negotiating a return deal with the EU, and clearing the backlog and making get people out of expensive hotels, barges and bases. The country just can't afford any more of this mess."

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